Uruguay’s Luis Suarez is doubtful for the Copa America after suffering a thigh injury in Barcelona’s Spanish Cup final triumph over Sevilla.
The striker limped off in the 56th minute of Sunday’s game and underwent an MRI yesterday which revealed damage to his right hamstring.
“Tests on Monday morning have confirmed that FC Barcelona striker Luis Suarez has suffered an injury to the semimembranosus muscle in his right leg,” Barcelona said in a statement.
A hamstring injury normally take between three to six weeks to heal but the club said Suarez still planned to join the Uruguay squad on June 1 to continue with the second phase of his treatment.
If the 29-year-old fails to recover for their opening game against Mexico on June 6 it will be a considerable blow to Oscar Tabarez’s team after the striker finished as La Liga top scorer with 40 goals. Suarez, who is Uruguay’s all-time record scorer with 45 goals in 85 games, had been included in the 23-man squad for next month’s centenary edition of football’s oldest continental tournament in which he has not played for five years. Uruguay also face Venezuela (June 10) and Jamaica (June 14) in Copa America Group C.

Goetze’s Bayern pledge dampens transfer rumours
Mario Goetze says he is looking forward to next season at Bayern Munich, dampening speculation of a move back to Borussia Dortmund, or Liverpool to work again with Jurgen Klopp.
“I am looking forward to the new season in Munich and will do everything possible to be in top shape for my first training session with Carlo Ancelotti,” Goetze told German daily Bild.
After a season spent either injured or largely on the bench under Pep Guardiola at Bayern, speculation had been rife that Germany’s World Cup winner was set either to join up with ex-coach Klopp at Liverpool or return to former club Dortmund. The rumours were fuelled by a report in Munich-based newspaper the Sueddeutsche Zeitung that Goetze had been told by Ancelotti, Guardiola’s replacement as Bayern’s head coach next season, to find a new club. Yesterday, Goetze split with his agent, Volker Struth at SportsTotal, an agency which looks after 70 top players in Germany, ‘by mutual agreement’ after six years together. The player’s affairs will now be put “in the hands of my family”, said the Germany star.
Goetze will join up with the Germany squad later this week in their pre-Euro 2016 training camp in Ascona, Switzerland. The world champions play the first of two friendlies on Sunday, against Slovakia in Augsburg, then Hungary on Saturday June 4 in Gelsenkirchen, before their first Group C game against Ukraine on June 12 at Euro 2016 in France. “Now I will focus myself for the first time solely on the European championships,” Goetze wrote on his Facebook page having missed Bayern’s German Cup final win last Saturday with a rib injury. “There’s a title there which we (Germany) haven’t won yet!”

Lukaku hopes to stay in England as Everton exit looms
Striker Romelu Lukaku has fuelled speculation about his future at Everton, saying he has decided where he will be playing next season and insisting he would prefer to ply his trade in England.
The Belgium international, who netted 25 goals in 46 appearances this campaign, has been the Merseyside club’s top scorer for the past two seasons following his a record 28 million-pound ($40.5 million) move from Chelsea.
“In my head I know where I want to go but I’m keeping that to myself. You will know when it is concluded. I have to make a good choice but in my head that has happened already,” Lukaku, 23, told British media.
“I have played (in England) for five years now, it’s my league. But there are other nice clubs. I follow Spanish and German football and I also have something for the Italian league. Wherever I go I want to win prizes.” Belgium face Italy, Ireland and Sweden in European Championship Group E in France which starts on June 10.

West Ham will take the Europa League seriously: Gold
West Ham United will not take Europa League lightly next season after being gifted a spot in the competition by Manchester United’s FA Cup triumph, joint chairman David Gold has said.
West Ham missed out on qualifying for Europe after finishing seventh in the Premier League but United’s victory over Crystal Palace at Wembley on Saturday secured a Europa League spot for Slaven Bilic’s men for second successive year.
“It was an exciting and thrilling end to the final and what a goal from (Jesse) Lingard to win the game,” Gold told the club’s website (www.whufc.com). “There was so much hanging on it for West Ham fans and we were all left celebrating as we are back in Europe... As we prepare for the big move into the new stadium this is another exciting challenge for the football club.”
West Ham lost to Romania’s Astra Giurgiu in the third qualifying round in Europe’s second tier competition last season but Gold insisted the club were keen to add to their trophy haul as they move into a new era at London’s Olympic Stadium.
“We should take this competition seriously and we are good enough to win it,” Gold added. “It will also be another great opportunity for our young players to get European experience and a number of them showed their quality when we played in the early rounds last summer.”
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